Choose WooCommerce if your catalogue holds fewer than a thousand items and you also publish editorial content. Choose PrestaShop beyond that, or as soon as you manage complex variants, several warehouses or several languages with different prices. This rule covers the large majority of projects. The rest of this article details the real gaps, costs included.
The comparison at a glance
| Criterion | WooCommerce | PrestaShop |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | A WordPress plugin | Dedicated commerce software |
| Comfortable catalogue size | Up to 1,000 items | Tens of thousands |
| Product variants | Simple: size, colour | Complex combinations, stock per variant |
| Blog and content | Native, this is its strength | Add-on module, less complete |
| Day-to-day management | Very approachable | Requires learning |
| Multi-store | Not without a heavy add-on | Native |
| Our starting price | €1,850 | €2,400 |
The real three-year cost
The build price tells only part of the story. Here is a full budget for a two-hundred-item shop, with payment, shipping and stock management.
| Item | WooCommerce | PrestaShop |
|---|---|---|
| Build | €1,850 to €4,000 | €2,400 to €6,000 |
| Paid add-ons | €200 to €600 per year | €300 to €900 per year |
| Suitable hosting | €180 to €400 per year | €240 to €600 per year |
| Maintenance | €1,800 to €3,000 over 3 years | €1,800 to €3,000 over 3 years |
| Three-year total | €4,800 to €10,000 | €6,000 to €14,000 |
The gap widens mainly through add-ons. The PrestaShop ecosystem charges more for features WordPress ships free, but it covers needs WooCommerce cannot handle.
When WooCommerce wins
- You sell and you publish. Articles, guides, advice pages: editorial content drives traffic to the products. This is WordPress territory.
- Your catalogue is modest and stable. A few dozen to a few hundred items.
- You run the shop yourself. The interface takes an hour to learn.
- You already have a WordPress website. The shop grafts on without starting over.
When PrestaShop wins
- Large catalogue. Beyond a thousand items, WooCommerce slows without heavy optimisation.
- Real variants. A shoe in six sizes and four colours, with stock per combination, is handled natively.
- Several shops. One installation can serve several brands or countries.
- Structured logistics. Multiple carriers, weight rules, warehouses, returns.
What about SEO?
Both rank well when configured properly. WooCommerce starts ahead on editorial content, still the main source of free traffic for a shop. PrestaShop needs a little more work on URLs and tags, but nothing prohibitive.
In both cases the real subject is product page content. A description copied from the supplier will never rank. That is the purpose of our content writing, and the point we develop in why a website does not appear on Google.
When neither fits
You do not sell online. If your prices depend on the customer or the quantity, a catalogue website with quote requests costs less and converts better than a shop whose cart nobody uses.
Your model is unusual. Custom subscriptions, a configurator, dynamic pricing, deep integration with management software: custom development often works out cheaper than stacking fifteen add-ons.
How to decide
- Count your items today, and estimate them in three years.
- Check whether your products have variants with their own stock.
- Ask who will run the shop day to day, and with how much time.
- Assess the place of editorial content in your strategy.
Three answers out of four point to WooCommerce in most SME projects. For a view on your specific case, see our e-commerce website design page, the pricing grid, or read showcase, catalogue or e-commerce website if the type of website is not settled yet.